Dillingham, in
the following excerpt, sees the novel's narrator, Ishmael, as a character who
represents Melville's theme of the isolation of individuals from the rest of
humanity.

Throughout Moby-Dick,
the theme of human isolation is prevalent. Each character exists as an island.
While they influence each others' lives, they can never fully understand each
other or experience a merger of souls. This is one reason Ishmael admits to a
"strange sort of insanity" when he tells how he felt when squeezing the sperm
in Chapter 94. He wanted then to say to his companions:

"Come; let us
squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves . . . universally
into the very milk and sperm of kindness." His was, indeed, a "strange sort of
insanity", as he looks back on it, for Ishmael has come to realize the truth of
man's unalterable isolation. This is a central theme not only...